Act commenced.
Statutory review recommended penalties, a due diligence duty and lower thresholds.
Commonwealth Anti-Slavery Commissioner established.
Government response to the review partially implemented; penalties bill pending.
Government announced a criminal failure to prevent offence for companies above A$100 million in revenue, with a reasonable steps defence, plus civil penalties for reporting breaches; consultation to follow.
Attorney-General's Department consulted on the failure to prevent offence, with absolute liability, deferred prosecution agreements and civil remedies for survivors among the options.
The first compliance date for the Australian Modern Slavery Act is FY2020 statements. All statutory application dates have now passed.
As of 13 October 2026, the Australian Modern Slavery Act is in force in Australia. Mandatory modern slavery statements with prescribed content, awaiting the penalties its own review recommended.
Added the August and September 2026 consultation, including the absolute liability option. That revision was logged in October 2026 on the hredd.org tracker.
Tracker revisions, logged openly
October 2026 Added the August and September 2026 consultation, including the absolute liability option.
September 2026 Added the July 2026 announcement of a failure to prevent offence and civil penalties.
May 2026 Commissioner priorities and pending reform items updated.
Sources for every date live on the full tracker entry · movement lands in the monthly digest first